Francesco Bagnaia had another difficult GP in Austin, despite a good performance in the sprint race the day before.
Francis Bagnaia He thought he had glimpsed an improvement at the United States Grand Prix, but this did not translate into Sunday's race. Unlike the first two GPs of the season, the Italian driver had this time been competitive in practice, qualifying, and during the sprint race.
Qualifying in fourth position, he led the entire race before ultimately finishing second. A welcome podium finish, but one quickly overshadowed by his performance the following day. While he managed to hold fifth and then sixth place, he plummeted down the order in the final laps to finish tenth, unable to challenge his rivals.
When debriefing his race, he was once again baffled, but with the positive aspects of his start to the weekend to hold on to, which proves that performance can be achieved. “Today went very badly. Unfortunately, since the beginning of the year, I’ve been losing a lot of speed in Sunday’s race. I can’t seem to be competitive, and we’re trying to figure out how to improve.” did he declare.
“For me, we’re doing excellent work during testing, we’re making progress. Here in Austin, I managed to start at the front of the grid, and yesterday during the sprint race, I fought hard. Today, on the other hand, there was no way to be fast. From the first lap, I couldn’t attack and I finished the tires in eight laps. This morning, during the warm-up, I started to feel less comfortable than yesterday; the bike felt heavier and with less grip.”
“During the last three or four laps, I was really on the limit, I was this close to crashing just by leaning the bike into the right-hand corners. I tried to push until the end, but in the last few laps I could only manage 2'05s. On the last lap, Marini overtook me on the outside, there was nothing I could do.”
Results Grand Prix United States 2026 :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
